Get Weekly Delicious Recipes

Almond Joy Puppy Chow (GF and Vegan Option)

3/5/19

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. Cupcakes & Kale Chips is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Almond butter puppy chow with Chex cereal and almonds covered in chocolate and coconut is a sweet no-bake snack that tastes just like an Almond Joy. This recipe for puppy chow combines the chocolate, almond and coconut flavors of the popular candy bar with the flavors in a classic muddy buddies recipe. In fact, this Almond Joy Puppy Chow covered in chocolate and coconut is one of the best gluten-free no-bake dessert recipes you can make!

I like to convince myself that my friends and I were actually really cool in middle school and that it was everybody else who, well, just wasn’t. So they just could not comprehend and appreciate our level of coolness. As adults, not much has changed, except now our get-togethers are less frequent (the last one was five years ago – we can’t let that happen again) and involve alcoholic beverages. Yes, we were your typical goody-two-shoes – no bending the rules. Our strongest drink back then was probably Dr. Pepper.

One thing that has changed is our selection of food. When we were kids, our party snacks of choice were Bugles, Cheetos, and Onion Dip. We may not have matured all that much, but our snacks have gotten a bit more sophisticated.

This puppy chow recipe is addictive, and I mean, seriously addictive. But I managed to control myself at the party and then proceeded to devour a lot of the leftovers in the car on the ride home. Sorry, oops, that never happened.

How do you make Muddy Buddies without peanut butter?

Some emails from CKC readers ask if you can make muddy buddies without peanut butter. The answer is YES, yes you can! For this recipe, I simply swapped the peanut butter for almond butter.

I love the combination of chocolate, almond, and coconut, like in this Flourless Almond Joy Cookie Dough Ball. So if you want your almond butter puppy chow to taste like an Almond Joy Candy Bar, there are just a few simple swaps from the classic recipe:

As I mentioned, swap peanut butter for almond butter.

Replace butter with coconut oil.

Use almonds in place of some of the Chex cereal.

And finally, pulse some coconut in a blender or food processor and combine that with the powdered sugar for coating the chocolate snacks.

FYI – since we were a small group and there were going to be a few desserts, I actually only made up a half batch of the puppy chow recipe, but the full amounts are shown in the recipe here. So you can definitely cut the recipe in half if you don’t want to make so much.

Can you make gluten-free muddy buddies without peanut butter?

Since several varieties of Chex are gluten-free, this is an easy sweet treat for anyone who has to avoid gluten. And if you have a peanut allergy, you’ll be happy to know that these are muddy buddies without peanut butter; we make the puppy chow with almond butter instead!

If you want to make a recipe for puppy chow that is vegan, that is an option too. Just make sure to use gluten-free and/or vegan chocolate chips, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract.

If you like this recipe for puppy chow, here are other muddy buddies / puppy chow recipes to try:

For more yumminess from me and my foodie friends, keep up with me on…

Or sign up to have Cupcakes & Kale Chips delivered straight to your Inbox!

Almond Joy Puppy Chow Recipe

Whether you want to call this a recipe for puppy chow, muddy buddies, or something else, the most important thing to do is make it. Because seriously, let’s face the facts; it’s pretty difficult to eat this delicious no bake snack it if you don’t make it first. But it won’t be difficult to make the entire bowl disappear in no time. That classic peanut butter chocolate Chex snack mix is already irresistible. Now add almond and coconut flavors, just like that Almond Joy Candy Bar, and just try to keep your hands away. With almond butter and almonds plus coconut oil and coconut, there is no shortage of deliciousness.

I hope you’ll leave a comment and give it a FIVE STAR rating or share a photo on this pin on Pinterest!

Get Weekly Delicious Recipes

DON’T MISS OUT! MAKE SURE TO FOLLOW ME FOR YUMMY RECIPES! JOIN OVER 1 MILLION FOLLOWERS ON FACEBOOK,
PIN WITH ME ON PINTEREST, AND KEEP UP WITH THE LATEST
ON INSTAGRAM AND TWITTER! YOU CAN ALSO JOIN THE CONVERSATION
IN THE NO-FUSS FOOD AND FUN GROUP ON FACEBOOK.

Comments

I substituted dried, unsweetened coconut shreds instead of the sweetened ones, and white chocolate peanut butter instead of the almond butter and it still tastes great. I was honestly surprised everything worked so well,, based on my limited ingredients and inexperience.

An AMAZING recipe! I wanted to make Almond Joy Puppy Chow and figured there had to be a recipe out there somewhere! Glad I found yours! Very addicting indeed! (: Made this for my boyfriends mother and I to snack on while she recovers from her broken leg. I also added those new ‘Almond Joy Pieces’ ,like m&m’s or recess pieces..just almond joy flavored. DELICIOUS!!!

What Fun! My boys will love this! So glad to see you great recipes again this week Brianne! Thank you for sharing on Thursday’s Treasures Week 36. Hope you will join again next week. <3 and hugs! http://www.recipesformyboys.com/2012/05/thursdays-treasures-week-36.html